Just a single game on the schedule tonight, as the Phoenix Mercury (13-10) visit the New York Liberty (11-14).
Chicago Sky vs Atlanta Dream Betting Odds
The Mercury opened as 3-point favorites and the line has been bet all the up to Phoenix -6. The total on the game moved from 162.5 to its current 164.
Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury are healthy and appear to be motivated, as they’ve won four straight games since play resumed, but the quality of opposition has been pretty weak, as those games came against Atlanta, Indiana and Washington before Elena Delle Donne returned. It would have been a bigger story had the Mercury lost any of those games as opposed to winning four straight. Still, you can’t penalize Phoenix too much, as the team can only play who is on the schedule.
The Mercury have their ‘Big 3’ of Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Turasi, who are each averaging more than 15 points per game. There’s a bit of a drop-off to Kia Nurse and Brianna Turner, who are the team’s other primary starters. For the season, the Mercury are holding foes to 41.4% from the field and 31.4% from 3-point range.
New York Liberty
The Liberty have dropped three of four games since returning, although the victory was over the Seattle Storm when Seattle was resting a couple of key players. How the Liberty fare from downtown, where they average 36.3%, could go a long ways in determining the outcome of the game. When New York upset the Mercury in Phoenix on June 13, New York went 10 of 32, while the Mercury were just 5 of 24, as Turasi missed the game.
Betnijah Laney leads the Liberty in scoring, with Natasha Howard next, although Howard missed a good portion of the season so far. New York has four players averaging double digits, but they do get out-rebounded and allow foes to shoot 43.8%.
Phoenix at New York Pick
Snuck in there by a point last night to move to 31-18-1 on the season and will come right back with another road favorite and take the Mercury -6. I have Phoenix winning 90-76 and it is a revenge game for the Mercury. It is the first of two straight meetings between the two teams in New York.